Iran does it again. And this will never be reported on our TV's

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- The government closed one of the country's top three newspapers Tuesday, detaining its editor and cartoonist for publishing a caricature that caused members of Iran's Azeri minority to riot in protest.

State television reported that the Press Supervisory Body had closed the state-owned newspaper Iran "due to its publication of divisive and provocative materials."

The closure was indefinite, the television reported. It was the first time a newspaper had been banned since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office last year.

On Friday, the Farsi-language newspaper published a cartoon showing a ****roach speaking Azeri, the language of an ethnic group in northwestern Iran.

The cartoon provoked riots Monday in Tabriz, the capital of Eastern Azerbaijan province. Police fired tear gas as rioters smashed windows of the local governor's office.

Tehran Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi said the paper's cartoonist and editor-in-chief had been detained.

"Those responsible, the cartoonist and the chief editor, were summoned and the charges were read to them. The two were taken to Evin prison," Mortazavi said on state-run television.

Culture Minister Saffar Harrandi appeared on state television Monday and apologized for the cartoon. He promised to punish the paper's editor and cartoonist.

how bad is it that we cant even say c 0ckaroach withouth the c0cka part bleeped out lol

heh yeah, but it probably assumes that c_ck, if not used by itself, will be used in a work like c_cksucker.

Anyways, I think we need to send Iran a stronger message. They are one of the maincontributors to the clusterfluck that is the Middle East. I know we keep telling them we are unhappy about their nuclear "energy" program, but aside from voicing our "concern" I'm not sure that we are making a great effort to disuade them. Then again, we certainly have our hands full with Iraq. Still, just because this is a bad time for us to police Iran, should we remain largely passive? One things for sure, it's not like the good ol' days where the CIA was overthrowing their primeminister and instating a puppet shah dictator :bruce1: